Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Andrei Parubiy

KIEV, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. A decision about handing over the two arrested Russian LifeNews reporters to Russia will be taken by a Ukrainian investigator, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Andriy Parubiy said on Thursday.

“The investigation is still underway,” he said, adding that it would be up to the investigator to decide about the charges against the Russian journalists. “It will also be up to the investigator to decide whether to hand them over to the Russian side,” he said.

Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, reporters from the Russian television channel LifeNews, were detained by Ukraine’s National Guards near the city of Kramatorsk, a major industrial and mechanical engineering centre in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, on May 18. Deputy Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Viktoria Syumar has accused them of abetting terrorism in the Donetsk region, claiming they were “members of terrorist groups.